Iman Shumpert could not shoot. The Knicks could not win. And Coach Mike Woodson could do little to avoid questions about his job security.
"You have to move forward," Kenyon Martin said.
Far from the pressure cooker of Madison Square Garden, the Knicks proved surprisingly capable of reassembling their confidence on the road, capping their four-day swing through Texas with a 92-80 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night at American Airlines Center.
While the Knicks (11-22) have to shake an addiction to distractions that borders on self-immolation — much of the pregame talk here centered on their late-game blunders in Friday's loss to the Houston Rockets — they are suddenly showcasing some toughness and resolve, clawing their way back from rock bottom.
On Sunday, Shumpert again asserted himself when it mattered most. After scoring 53 points in his previous two games, he was quiet until late in the fourth. After the Mavericks' Jose Calderon connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to 82-76, Shumpert answered with consecutive baskets for the Knicks.
He scored on an up-and-under layup after he recognized that Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks' 7-foot forward, was standing straight up, anticipating Shumpert would attempt a 3-pointer. Instead, Shumpert attacked the basket. On the next possession, Carmelo Anthony spotted Shumpert outside the 3-point arc.
"I was wide open," said Shumpert, who had 9 points and turned in another fine defensive effort. "I think they forgot about me."
In the locker room after the game, Shumpert asked for cold medication. He was under the weather, and he blamed Tyson Chandler, who had left the game in the first quarter with an upper respiratory infection. Specifically, Shumpert blamed Chandler's children. "Kids got all them germs," Shumpert said.
Despite feeling less than their best, the Knicks played their finest basketball of the season in Texas, upsetting the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday before engaging in their ill-fated duel with the Rockets. Sunday's victory was a total team effort, to borrow one of Woodson's favorite phrases.
Consider a sequence early in the fourth quarter. After trailing by 19 points, the Mavericks (19-15) reduced the deficit to 68-62 when Vince Carter made a 3-pointer. The Knicks' reserves responded with a 7-0 run that included contributions from J. R. Smith (long jumper), Toure' Murry (aggressive drive) and Tim Hardaway Jr., who swerved his way to the basket for a 3-point play. Woodson kicked his leg and pumped his fist.
"It's been a good, successful trip," Woodson said. "Now, we have to go home and establish something there."
Anthony led five teammates in double figures with 19 points. Martin, appearing in his hometown after missing Friday's game with a sore ankle, had 14 points and 6 rebounds. His contributions were especially important in the absence of Chandler, who played only four minutes.
It was an important win. The fumes from the Houston debacle were still lingering Sunday morning when the Knicks gathered here for their shootaround. That contest had ended with a series of crushing mental lapses by the team, including Smith's stupefying decision to launch a 3-pointer with about 20 seconds left in a tie game. The Knicks could have held the ball for the final shot. Instead, Smith missed and the Rockets converted two free throws to secure a 102-100 win.
Woodson remained at a loss to explain Smith's 3-point attempt, other than to say he "went blank." Curiously, Woodson named an accomplice in the meltdown: Beno Udrih, who had erred by passing the ball to Smith in the first place, Woodson said.
"Did Beno have to throw him the ball? You got to look at that," he said. "There are a lot of things that you just — when you're winning and losing games, man, it's a fine line. When you've had those struggles that we've had, you just can't make those mistakes."
For another team, perhaps all this chatter would be disruptive. The Knicks seem used to it by now. Distractions are their milieu. It is something of an art, and they are suddenly thriving amid it all.
Udrih, in particular, had a strong start against the Mavericks. He drained an early 3-pointer, and then dropped a bounce pass to Martin for a layup and a 20-13 lead. But no player was more dominant early on than Anthony, who collected 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in the first quarter, as the Knicks raced to a 29-17 advantage.
Udrih, who finished with 8 assists, again supplied big minutes as Raymond Felton sat out his sixth straight game with a strained groin. Woodson described Felton as "day to day," a phrase that has also become an indispensable part of Felton's vocabulary. He has missed 16 games this season with various ailments.
"I'd like to get a healthy team," Woodson said, "and see where we are as a ball club."
